This is a photo of Gordon Johnson. I have no
idea
whether he was a relative or just a family friend, or what became of
him...
but my grandparents (King) Walter Davis and Mary Lee Haire Davis had
several
photos of him... (UPDATE 19 Feb 2006: His full name was HENRY
Gordon Johnson and he was a brother of grandpa Davis's brother-in-law
John Robinson Johnson). He appeared on the 1930 U.S. Census for
Lee County,
Florida, in the "PLACE OF ABODE" 56/57 which was immediately adjacent
to
that of my great grandparents James Daniel Haire and Forrest Presell
Autry
Haire at 57/58. My great uncle George Washington Haire and his
wife
Allie Mae Trulock Haire were living at 58/59, my grandparents (King)
Walter
Davis, Mary Lee Haire Davis... with their children Pauline (my mother),
Hugh
C., Barbara P., Coy Owen & John R., were living down the line a bit
at
67/68. In between, at 65/66, was Richard Schadlee who was
grandpa's
employer... and the difference in their circumstances is shown in that
the
residences previously mentioned were evaluated at being worth $10 each
except
Gordon Johnson's which weighed in at $15; but Richard Schadlee's home
was
evaluated as being worth $50,000. Mr. Schadlee at 65/66 wasn't at
the
top of the pile, though, as 63/64 was evaluated at $250,000... plus
63/64
and 65/66 were identified as owner occupied and the rest as rented.
The
were in fact, "quarters" for employees on the Estate.

This was the Schadlee Estate on the Caloosahatchee, and my grandfather was
the groundskeeper for the Estate, plus he managed working tropical fruit
orchards on the Estate till he finally retired about 30 years later. Immediately
prior to 1930, grandpa had managed a commercial grove for Graham & Shriver.
Though the oranges kept growing, it cost more to pick them and ship
them than they could be sold for as the Great Depression unfolded, so after
about a year as the sole employee of the company but at half pay and all
of the oranges he could eat, grandpa went to work for Mr. Schadlee. Many
of the trees of the Graham and Shriver grove remained alive even when I was
growing up though often in woeful condition, all the way from McGregor Boulevard
to U.S. 41. along the side of Colonial Boulevard that was towards town, though
some close along McGregor Boulevard and Colonial had been incorporated into
housing developments. The remains of this grove were the inspiration
for the name of the newly built school that I sarted to attend in the 3rd
grade... Orangewood Elementary.

The situation with various family members living on the Schadlee Estate must
have been fairly tempoary. Great grandpa and great grandma Haire started
the family tradition of working on local estates soon after great grandpa,
James Daniel Haire (who was born in Liberty County, Florida, in 1866), came
south from Grady County Georgia in 1913 and took a job as a cook on the
McKenzie Steamship Line's mailboat to Marco Island. Great grandma came down too
in December of 1913 and wasn't long before both of them began working for
Dr. Franklin Miles, the retired owner of Miles Laboratories and the world's
first patent medicine magnate. Dr. Miles developed his own personal
agricultural experiment farm on his estate and various members of my family
seem to have gained inspiration and knowledge about growing tropical and
semi-tropical plants from observing or participating in his activities. My
family was connected in various ways to growing such plants as an occupation
thereafter. My great grandparents soon went back to their farm in Georgia
and grandpa bought the only house that was built for about the next 30 years
in Glen Eden subdivision, several miles in towards town from the Schadlee
Estate, on the east side of McGregor Boulevard. The subdivision plans
had crashed just like the Graham & Shriver grove, in the Depression.
With the house grandpa bought about 10 acres of land comprising a number
of subdivision lots and soon had several fields of royal palms, coconuts
and citrus growing. Grandpa still had his Packard Essex touring car
then, because when I was maybe ten years old, I found a rusting steel frame
(and nothing but a frame... the South Florida elements having apparently
eaten the rest) far away in the woods on the east side of the house. Upon
mentioning finding part of "an old car" I was told that was what was left
of grandpa's Essex. Once upon a time it (or perhaps some Model T Ford
predecessors) had carried the family hunting in the Big Cypress (grandpa
took grandma and all of the kids along) and back and forth to Georgia...
at first on sand rut roads when there was not a sign of any kind to be found,
as well anywhere else an automoble could be made to go. One story that
mom loved to tell, was how on a trip to Georgia once the family had camped
in a field beside a lonely country store. The next night they camped
in the exact same spot... because grandpa had driven all day long... in a
big circle.

There was a World War II military training camp on the coast near carrabelle
south of Tallahassee that was named Camp Gordon Johnson, but it was named
after a Colonel by that name and he was apparently an altogether different
person.